Kargopol toy - the history of origin. Modeling of the Kargopol toy

In the villages that were located on the territory of the Kargopol Uyezd (today it is the Kargopol district of the Arkhangelsk region), since ancient times they have been engaged in the creation of pottery items of everyday use. This case was seasonal - when the agricultural work was over, the peasants could afford to tackle the pots. From clay waste created different crafts. So there was the famous Kargopol toy. Initially, nobody took this craft seriously. For coloring the product used materials. Basically this was furnace black and lime.

What is she - a toy made of clay?

Clay Kargopol toys are figures in the form of dogs, bears, fairy-tale heroes, squat muzhiks with bearded shovels, women with newborn babies, birds and other living things. Despite such a wide variety of forms, the old Kargopol clay toy did not have a bright coloring, because the colors used were chalk, soot and colored clay. The modern thing is already more colorful shades, but professionals are trying not to make their creations very colorful. Red, blue, green, white, black and ocher are the most popular shades for painting products.

Most of the toys are characterized by such elements of the painting as crosses, red large circles, rings. All these are ancient sun symbols. Also used motifs of petals of plants, ears of bread and grains.

Authorship

In most cases, the names of manufacturers of such gizmos are not known to anyone. But there are some famous masters of the Kargopol toy, thanks to the creativity of which the craft was saved and characteristic elements were introduced into it.

In the thirties of the last century in the village of Grinevo lived Druzhinin Ivan Vasilievich - a descendant of the kind of potters. He was one of the most talented creators of clay toys. Today, his masterpieces people know as classic Kargopol.

Grinevo became the birthplace of another well-known masters, from under the hands of which appeared a wonderful Kargopol toy. Her name is Babkina Uliana Ivanovna. Starting to create toys at the age of 15, Babkin continued her craft for the rest of her life. It was she who did not allow the fine custom of souvenirs to end. This Ulyana Ivanovna saved the image of the horse-polkana, or, as it is also called, polihana. Centaur with a beard, which is Polkan - one of the most beloved and sought-after images of the Kargopol clay toy.

Dynasty Shevelevyh

A toy from Kargopol by its development is largely due to Shevelev. It is impossible to talk about amazing things without mentioning these glorious people. The Sheveliev family originates in the village of Tokarevo, which was a couple of kilometers from Kargopol itself along the Pudozhsky tract. Shevelev Alexander Petrovich gave life to the branch of the Kargopol office of the "White Sea patterns", which produced toys.

Today, the business of ancestors was inherited by Valentin Dmitrievich Shevelev. He is engaged in recreating the old technique of welding tools, which involves putting the toy, heated after firing, into a so-called chunk - a thick flour-based solution. As a result, the surface of the product is covered with decorative stains and black spots. All this is possible due to burnt flour. In Kargopol in 2003, the House-Museum of the Shevelev Dynasty and the Kargopol clay toy were created.

Woman

The oldest Kargopol toy is a woman. Due to the combination of quite ancient elements and its archaic nature, she attributes the user to the epochs of the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Paleolithic. In appearance, the figure resembles an idolate woman, made of stone, with an unflappable flat face. Historians believe that it embodies the Great Mother, who presumably refers to the matriarchy of the Paleolithic period. Later she was reincarnated as a symbol of Mother Earth, the main goddess of Nature. At the end of some time, the cult significance of the toy was lost, and it became just a child's play and an accessory to the life of the peasant.

Production of a woman

The figure is molded into separate parts: head and torso, hands, a bell-skirt and a headpiece. The trunk and skirt were attached to each other, squeezed both hands-sausages, twisted them in the form of a barrel and also fixed. Headgear in the form of a kokoshnik or hat attached to the very last. This concludes the molding.

The Kargopol toy needed further painting. Baba was treated with lime, sometimes a solution based on chalk and milk was used for this purpose. Then the masters proceeded to draw the apron. It was filled with various images of symbolic meaning. So, wavy lines symbolized water and rain, zigzags meant lightning, showers and thunderstorms. The image of the cross in the circle symbolized the sun, and the cross in the rhombus - the earth. The painting of the Kargopol toy in the form of a cross with dots meant a sown field, and various curls are sprouts. Speaking in general, all the above-described symbols had to do with a settled inhabitant, a plowman or a sower.

Polkan

A special place in the history of clay crafts is occupied by the Polkan toy of Kargopol. Specialists in the field of souvenirs believe that the word "polkan" came from the "polkonya". This toy appeared after the woman. It is considered as curious and archaic, contains many different meanings. Polkan is a centaur, a man-horse, wearing a beard and hat. Sometimes he was portrayed with a woman's breasts. In Polykhan appears a very important symbol of the peasantry - a horse. He became the embodiment of farming, wealth, nobility and strength.

Polkan is a tiller, since the first ploughmen were perceived precisely as "people-horses". Beard - this is evidence of adulthood, and a broad chest is a symbol of the flowering of forces. What does the female breast symbolize? The history of the Kargopol toy says that it is a universal symbol of the peasants: the patron of the family, the family, the owner, the keeper of the home.

Other Figures

Other ancient images include images of animals. At first, hares were popular, a little later they were driven out by horses. A special honorable place was occupied by a bear ("bear cub") with or without offspring. It could be sculpted with a variety of household items, for example, with a fish or a mirror in the paws. The bear is one of the first symbols of the planet. The most recent stories of the Kargopol clay toy are images related to rural life. So, the masters sculpted a troika of horses harnessed with riders. Men with long beards, holding the accordion, bast shoes or a pipe, peasant women and ladies - all these are prototypes of clay articles.

Features of Kargopol toys

The Kargopol clay toy has a rather archaic appearance. It has a recognizable style, types and paintings. This thing can be called truly popular, as its execution is as free as possible. Conditionally, all the stories of crafts can be divided into several categories: the first include archaic types, such as Bereginya - a woman who holds pigeons in her hands, as well as horses, Polkan and other animals. The second type of Kargopol toys include story products that show scenes from rural life. Also this category of souvenirs illustrates stories from fairy tales. This includes such songs as "Girl for washing", "Turnip" and others.

The Kargopol toy of traditional painting is a whitewashed hand-made article painted with different colors, but without applying unnecessary details and unnecessary gloss. Despite the fact that there are bright shades on the figure, it looks muffled. The person signs fairly conditionally.

About the Kargopol toy today

Today, in addition to classical images, multi-figure compositions have gained wide popularity. Here there is movement and character, the masters have a desire to do everything as in real life. Potters have established stories and themes. In its majority it is the life of peasants, their holidays and everyday life. A great variety of new subjects is being developed, which relate to festive dates, to various exhibitions, events that take place in a particular city.

Shevelyov House-Museum

Kargopol, Gagarin Street, house number 30 - it is in this old log building with green trimmings that the famous Shevelevs House Museum is located all over Russia. This is the patrimonial nest of the dynasty of the famous masters of the Kargopol toy. There are two small rooms in which Klavdia Petrovna and Dmitry Vasilyevich Shevelevy used to live. They brought up three children - Valentine, Vladimir and Vitaly. And they gave life to their children, who do not give a chasm to the craft of their ancestors. When Dmitry Vasilievich died at the end of 2000, his heirs made a proposal to open the museum. This idea was supported by the district administration, and two years later the authorities gave the second half of the lease to the Shevelevs.

Museum expositions

In 2002, on the territory of the estate, Vladimir Shevelev equipped the exhibition summer hall, and in the front section of the house he organized a room for master classes. A year later the brothers Shevelevs created the exposition, but a temporary one. The official opening date of the House Museum is June 13, 2003.

In present-day Kargopol there is no permanent exhibition of Kargopol toys, so the Shevelyov Museum fills this gap. Here are photos, some family relics, traditional household items, which were molded on a potter's wheel and covered with watering from lead. The exposition is decorated with the subjects of painting of the three brothers. It will be interesting here for the older generation, and for the younger one.

This is such a Kargopol toy. The history of its origin goes back to ancient times, goes through the centuries and stops in modern Kargopol in the House Museum of the Shevelyovs dynasty. Perhaps, the one who first sees the clay ware, will say: "This I myself will do." But no, here you need a special skill, talent, gift. To create a Kargopol toy, you need to be imbued with a peasant spirit and soak in love for ancient art and your homeland.